Masteries

Offense:
11

Defense:
6

Utility:
13

Introduction

I find Irelia to be one of the most damaging offtanks. While my build is currently more damage focused, she is still super hard to kill once the first four items are purchased. Played properly, she can destroy teams. Bladesurge is my favourite skill out of all league of legends. You can kite, juke, catch, escape with it. And with its cooldown refresh, you can wipe a wave of minions in no time.

This is my first guide, It may have some holes but constructive criticism is welcomed. Don't come here to solely abuse, I would much like feedback and advice instead.

Runes

Ive gone for arpen marks, health per lvl seals, mr per level glyphs and arpen quintessences. This is my basic rune page for all ad champions, its more focused for late game and means that your ad carries have some durability. The marks dont necessarily have to be arpen, (as she deals heavy magic dmg aswell) attack speed works well too.

Items

Irelia's key items are merc treads and trinity force. By the time you have these you can successfully gank not stop. The merc treads stack with her passive, meaning you can absorb the stuns etc in ganks. The trinity force gives you good ms for chasing, durability etc but best of all the sheen procs on each transcentant blade. The third item is dependant on if they are ad or ap heavy. Banshees is an all round good choice, However if they are seriously ad heavy i sometimes opt for a sunfire cape instead. The banshees shield is good if they have some ap nuke power, but if its just cc well you have the merc treads. Atmas next will give you great damage and add to your crit chance with tri force. This is my base build, the last two items I get ie and starks. These two items are almost unnescesary; if you are playing her well you can get a variety of different items as your last 2. If they have a fed carry it might be best to counter them.

Skill Sequence

Max out equilibrium strike first, and second to max out is blade surge. getting 1 point in hiten style at lvl 3 helps your lane sustain, but in terms of damage, its gunna be coming from your blade surge>equilibrium strike combo.

Summoner Spells

I like flash and ghost, just because both can be used both offensively and defensively. Flash is FANTASTIC for covering distance immediately with blade surge. Depending on surrounding minions, you can bladesurge>flash>bladesurge a champion who is hanging at the back on low hp. Ghost helps run down etc but is not that nescessary; I only take due to my aggressive nature i often need an escape if im using flash offensively. Other good options are exhaust (get more hiten style hits in), teleport (you are solo top), ignite (for those who fail at aiming transcendant blades).

Ranked Play

Take the top solo. If versing 2 or a single agressive champ, you can hang back and last hit minions with bladesurge, staying out of danger while still getting farmed. If they are so aggressive and you cant tough them, most of the time u can even just hang right back and let the minions get under the turret where u can time your bladesurges to last hit along with normal last hitting. Irelia is good in this way, as she wont lose too many minions to the turret. If its a soloer you are versing, you can poke with bladesurge>equilibrium combo until they are low enough to commit to the kill. When going for the kill, try not to start with your equilibrium strike this time; if you can run close enough to equilibrium first, then you can blade surge as soon as they flash. With sheen, this combo, along with activating hiten will deal ENORMOUS damage early on. If you just bought sheen and its early game you may not even need your ulti if you poke once then commit. Bladesurge is also incredibly good for avoiding ganks. If they come through top river, run straight into the top brush away from them, wait till they come in, and bladesurge to prefferably dieing minion. ghost or flash away and your fine. Bladesurging dieing minions back and forth is a great way to kite aswell if your team is coming to back up.
As irellia, you may be able to initiate team fights aswell because of your cc reduction and tankiness.

Pros / Cons

Team Work

I use irelia to kind of be the second initiate. If you have a proper tank, then its their duty but if not irellia is fine to pop in. If initiating a teamfight with minions around, bladesurge a dieing minion if its close so that if you run out you can pop back in immediately. One way of this is bladesurge minion in, equilibrium strike, absorb some damage and cc, run out to force them to change target, jump back in and pick off the weak ones. If you are the tankiest on your team probably best to stay in and just ulti them all so you survive long enough for your team to send them running.